Should I ask for a company car

cmchsmjm

I am interested to know what peoples views are on this...

My role at work has changed slightly since I started with the company and for the last 4 years my mileage for the business has been around 13,000-15,000 per year.

I have always used my own car and claimed mileage cost back at the HMCR rate of 40p for the first 10k and 25p thereafter.
HR have recently informed me that I can now only claim a flat rate of 25p

I am aware that I can claim the difference back as tax relief but my real gripe is that my own car is racking up the miles and depreciating faster as a result of using it for my job.

The amount I can claim does not seem to be enough to cover the wear and tear on the car. In the last 18 months I have had to replace all of the brakes and tyres, I have had to sort out some worn suspension 'thingimee' and now I have to have the power steering looked at!
I am convinced that if I simply used my car for private milege (approx 6,000 per year) I wouldn't be facing these bills as rapidly.

I travel all over the country with my job and my question basically is do I have a legitimate claim to ask for either a company car or a car allowance to cover these costs?

Has anyone experienced a similar situation at work?:(

maninthestreet

You can ask, but they are not obliged to provide you with either a company car or allowance.

Gloomendoom

I was in this situation once. The mileage allowance was reduced to the extent that it barely covered the cost of the petrol (I had a V8 sports car at the time) never mind the wear and tear. The final straw came when my insurance premium was increased to reflect the business mileage I was doing.

I just refused to use my own car. Hire cars were the solution.

Lum

Bangernomics works well with car allowance, prividing you buy carefully. Keep your decent private car for trips into the office (so your boss doesn't realise you're doing business trips in a shed) and as a backup incase the banger fails.

£100 + petrol for 2 years motoring = profit.

I did eventually get caught and told them "It's all I can afford for what you're paying me", which guilt tripped them into giving me a 3 grand payrise.

allan673

i would have thought they would provide a car if your traveling all over the country. i would ask them for a company car or for them to provide a pool car.
as you say its increasing your mileage, your car is worth less money, insurance is higher as its for business and personal use and the servicing costs are higher.

what if you did not have a car? or your car was off the road for a couple of weeks? what would they do then.

" p.s are you insured for business/work use??? if your not you will not be covered if you have a crash or if someone crashes into you! "

Coveredinbees!!!!

Even better ask for a van then if you only use it for work no tax to pay

forgotmyname

I thought if you take the van home its still taxed?

cmchsmjm

Thanks for your thoughts.

I am getting a bit hacked off having to run my car into the ground without adequate compensation.

The mileage rate used to be higher and I could justify running my car as the difference between what I paid out for petrol and what got back was such that it just about covered the costs such as insurance, tax and repair.

I am starting to feel as though the company has introduced a stealth pay cut by squeezing us through our mileage!
:mad:
Or maybe I am thinking about it too much?

Coveredinbees!!!!

forgotmyname wrote: »

I thought if you take the van home its still taxed?

I work from home and don't pay tax, probably be different if you go to an office every day.

Lum

cmchsmjm wrote: »

I am starting to feel as though the company has introduced a stealth pay cut by squeezing us through our mileage!
:mad:
Or maybe I am thinking about it too much?

No it is basically a pay cut.

My company have started doing something that annoys me. When the company car is broken or in for a service and a hire car is provided, we can't use the fuel card, have to pay for it ourself and claim back based on mileage not actual cost. It's impossible to drive suitably efficiently to actually meet this rate (11p/mile) so what I've started doing is calculating the mileage when I get the the petrol station down the road and putting in exactly the amount that I'm going to get paid.

So far I haven't had a bollocking about not returning the car with a full tank, but if I do I have the fuel receipts and mileage to justify it.

Some other colleagues just lie about the mileage to cover the actual cost of the trip but I couldn't in good conscience suggest that you do that.